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June 29, 2021
II Samuel 18:9-15, 24, 32-36 Luke 8:1-12
By Rebecca Clancy August 14, 2020
Nabal was a fool. How can I be so sure that Nabal was a fool? Because the word Nabal in Hebrew means fool. So yes, Nabal was fool. And why was Nabal a fool? He was a fool, clearly, because he was uncivil. Nabal happened to be a man of great wealth. He was possessed of three thousand sheep and one thousand goats. But this fool and his money were not soon parted. Nabal maintained his vast flock over a vast wilderness with a vast number of shepherds. David and his men by chance encountered Nabal’s operation. Now it bears repeating that whenever we are talking about the Old Testament, we are talking about violent times. Truth be told, all times are violent times. Read the news if you seek confirmation of this. All times are violent times because we are violent creatures. But regarding the Old Testament, we are talking about a certain type of violent times. I tell my students in the biblical studies class I teach each semester that I will give them extra credit if they will watch the Netflix miniseries Godless . Now why would I plug the Netflix miniseries Godless, particularly in a biblical studies class? It is because Godless is a more recent and more familiar depiction of the type of violent times of the Old Testament. Godless is set in the Old West. You all have some sense of the Old West. Outlaws, show downs, shoot outs, saloon brawls, brothels, gunslingers, horse rustlers, train robberies – all pitted against the local sheriff. That’s the type of violent times of the Old Testament. Certain conditions produce this type of violent times. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the Old Testament or the Old West. When you have people living a rough and ready existence off the land with little centralized authority and sparse law enforcement it is going to produce this type of violent times. The point is, David and his men by chance encountered Nabal’s operation. Had it been anyone but David he would have just terrorized or killed the shepherds and helped himself to the flock. But that’s not what David did. He did the opposite. David actually protected the shepherds and their flock from others who would do them violence. This was David after all. He was not molded by his violent times. He was not molded by anything. David broke the mold. He broke the mold because he could see beyond it all to the truth. It’s a pity that men such as David are one in a billion. At any rate, David and his men made a wall of protection around the shepherds and their flock day and night. David gleaned from the shepherds that their master was Nabal, and so his messenger approached Nabal for a small favor. Since it was a festival day, he asked Nabal for a few sheep so they could celebrate the festival day with a feast. Now remember, David could have just taken the sheep by force. Anybody else would have. But he approached Nabal and asked for them, and asked for them with great civility, “Peace be to you, peace be to your house, and peace be to all you have,” he entreated Nabal. What was Nabal’s response? He met David’s civility with his own incivility. His response, if you forgive the directness of my speech, was along the order of, Who the hell do you think you are asking me for my sheep? This was not just incivility. It was egregious incivility. Because it was David, after all, asking him for his sheep; David, who at this point in his career was King Saul’s most valiant warrior -- renowned throughout the kingdom. David for his part was outraged by Nabal’s response -- outraged because Nabal’s response was outrageous. David was so outraged that he was ready to kill him. And there is an important lesson here for us. When someone insults us, yes, we are going to be outraged. That’s ok. Again, we are violent creatures. It’s hardwired in us. But we also are capacitated to master it. We can be outraged, but we can master it. We must master it. Whatever it takes. For me what helps to master it is to process the outrage with a sympathetic listener. When someone sympathizes with my outrage it soothes me precisely because it sympathizes with me. This is what David did. Nabal had a wife named Abigail. She was the opposite of a fool. David was soon to praise her for her good sense. She brought him the sheep he requested and then some, every imaginable provision for a lavish feast. And she sympathized with outrage. For his incivility, he’s rightly named fool, she said to David. But he is not worth the guilt that would besmirch you should you spill his blood. And David mastered his outrage. Nabal, of course, got what was coming to him. When, arising after a night of drunken carousing, he learned what Abigail did, he was so enraged he had a heart attack and died. David married Abigail, and the world was relieved of a fool. Nabal was probably remembered for what he was, or probably closer to the mark, he was probably not remembered at all. I can scarcely imagine Abigail in the arms of David holding a torch for him. The Old Testament is teaching us a lesson here. It’s a hard lesson, and it’s a blunt lesson. The lesson is that if you are uncivil, you are a fool. You are a fool not just because you create disunity. Not just because you create hostility. Not just because you create trouble. You are a fool because you lack the prudence to act in your own interest, because there are consequences to being uncivil. You lose your reputation. You lose regard. You lose respect. And the world will count itself well rid of you. And there are no exceptions. It doesn’t matter whether you are positive your cause is just, and the opposing cause is not. It doesn’t matter whether the times are uncivil. It doesn’t matter if someone was uncivil to you first. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a bad mood. It doesn’t matter if you think you got the short end of the stick in life. It doesn’t matter if you are power up or power down. It doesn’t matter what role you have been cast to play in the human drama. It does not entitle you to be uncivil. Because Jesus Christ set the bar much higher than civility. He set the bar at love across all divides – divides of race, divides of class, divides of religion, divides even between enemies. This I command you, that you love one another. He set the bar at love inspired by him and made possible by his Spirit. That’s our ultimate goal as his disciples. So can we not at very least be civil to each other, for Christ’s sake? Amen.
March 10, 2020
I Samuel 16:6-13
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What is Rebecca's Sermons?

I’ve been a preacher for more than twenty years. That means I’ve accumulated sermons – hundreds of them. Preachers in mainline denominations are expected to put great effort into a sermon. After all, it’s the mainstay of the worship service. But for all the effort, sermons really don’t get much of a hearing. Congregations tend to be insular in the first place, and on top of that the entire congregation does not turn out to hear the sermon. Not even on Easter. Sermons, especially good ones, deserve a wide hearing, a hearing as wide as the internet. So here they are. No need to worry. I’ve separated the wheat from the weeds. I hit delete on what I’ll call the sleepers. The best are here, organized by Scripture and by Occasion. They are offered for personal devotion, for Bible study, for re-preaching, for sharing – for any use to which you wish to put them. They’re all yours, with the prayer that they may uplift and enrich you and the Body of Christ.

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By Rebecca Clancy August 3, 2022
Pharaoh, King of Egypt, enslaved the People of Israel. It was not out, as you might assume, out of cruelty. It was, rather, out of judiciousness. The People of Israel were not Egyptians. They were foreigners. They were the rough equivalent of what we today would call the undocumented. So now as then they were deemed to be threats. Add to this that the People of Israel grew increasingly numerous, as numerous even as the Egyptians themselves. This intensified the threat. In those numbers they could simply take over. Or Egypt’s enemies could induce them to fight for them, as a kind of built in fifth column. Pharaoh, King of Egypt, had to act. And so he enslaved the People of Israel. It was the judicious thing to do. But his judiciousness was not rewarded. In slavery, unpredictably, their numbers only increased. Pharaoh’s patience with the People of Israel grew thin. Judiciousness then crossed over to cruelty. He ordered the Hebrew midwives to murder the infant boys as they delivered them. That would thin their ranks. But the Hebrew midwives refused to do so, and with their refusal, civil disobedience was born. They chose to heed God not man. But Pharaoh King of Egypt was not so easily undone. He ordered his army to search out the infant boys and throw them into the Nile. Thereafter, cruelty no doubt took on a life of its own. Pharaoh King of Egypt rightly ranks with the likes of Caligula, Nero, Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. One wonders why it is that so many who rise to power become murderous and maniacal tyrants. The human cost - the suffering and misery and despair and tragedy -- are unimaginable and incalculable. Against this backdrop, a woman from the house of Levi gave birth to a healthy and beautiful infant boy. It would normally be the occasion for celebration and joy, but it was for her the occasion for anguish. When a child is born, a mother’s first instinct is protectiveness. But how could she possibly protect him? She thought desperately at first that she could hide him, and she did so for several months, but that could not go on forever. He could any day be discovered. The lesser of two evils was to abandon him to his fate. So she plastered a reed basket with bitumen and pitch, and she cast her hope upon the water. Low and behold, the daughter of Pharaoh happened upon the basket. She peered into it, beheld the crying infant, and she had compassion. The daughter of Pharaoh has never received the appreciation and respect she deserves. She is, inexplicably, overlooked. What she did was exemplary. Normally when people enslave others, they find justification for it. The enslaved are not deemed the equal of their enslavers. They are deemed subhuman. Slavery, therefore, is a necessity. More than this, it is morally right. That’s what the South advanced in this country, after all. But the daughter of Pharaoh did not fall prey to justification. She had compassion. And she acted upon that compassion. Here is an important reminder. It is not enough to have compassion. To have compassion, or any other altruistic emotion for that matter, does not make you a good person. You must act upon it. If you have compassion and you do not act upon it, that makes you decidedly less than a good person. As Martin Luther King, Jr. famously declared, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” And here is something truly astounding. Her act was to adopt him. That was, to say at the least, a courageous thing to do. It certainly would not have put her in good stead with her father. I can just imagine it. “Father, I have a surprise for you. You have a new grandson.” Such an announcement could only have dumbfounded him, but his confusion would have given way to horror as she went on, “I have adopted an infant boy from among your slaves.” If nothing else, we can now set the record straight. We can give Pharaoh’s daughter the appreciation and respect that she deserves. But we can do more than that. As I said, she is exemplary, and so we can follow her example. We can show compassion to those who have cast their hope upon the water. Yes, a mother forced by dire circumstance to give her child up for adoption, hoping that her child will be loved and cherished. But too, one with an atypical identity, hoping to be accepted for who he or she really is. One of a different race, creed, or income level seeking to relocate, hoping not that she will be welcomed, for that would be too high a hope; but hoping she will be at least be tolerated. One who has transgressed, hoping he will be forgiven. One who has something difficult to impart, hoping she will be understood. We can show compassion for those who have cast their hope upon the water. For someone greater, much greater than Pharaoh’s daughter did the same. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!” “My daughter has just died. Come and lay your hand on her, that she may live.” “Even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” “Jesus, come before my son dies.” “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David, for my daughter is tormented by a demon.” “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers terribly.” “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” They cast their hope on him. And he showed compassion for them all. And when we cast our hope on him, he will show compassion for us -- unlimited even by a cross. Amen.
By Rebecca Clancy August 3, 2022
I attended a funeral recently. It was for my high school math teacher. He was one great guy. Everyone loved him. He taught math at my high school for forty years, and he also coached wrestling. By the time he retired, he had become something of a legend in his own time. The funeral was upbeat, not like so many funerals that are so very sad. He lived a full and long life, and we gathered to celebrate that. But for one man – a classmate of mine who wrestled for him. He was absolutely devastated. I approached him in the parking lot after the funeral and asked if he was okay. He broke down. “That man was everything to me,” he said. “I was O.K. so long as he was in the world.” Then he shared his story. His mother died when he was very young. His father was a physically and emotionally abusive alcoholic. By the time he was in high school, he was far down a bad road. He hadn’t the support to do well at school, so he didn’t. He was very angry, so he was a behavior problem. The only friends he could make were kids like himself, so he hung out with a tough crowd. And he had begun to dabble in drugs. He was pretty much a lost cause at the age of sixteen. Enter my math teacher. He approached him one day out of the blue and told him he could tell by his gait that he was born to wrestle. This could only have been a ruse to intervene. Even I, who knows nothing about wrestling, am suspicious that you can identify one born to wrestle by his gait. At any rate, the ruse worked. He intervened. And he made him into a great wrestler. On top of that, he made him into a great young man. His advice, understanding, and support were unwavering. He helped him to deal with his past in such a way that it didn’t destroy him. He filled his present with new found responsibility, purpose, structure, and discipline. And he paved his way to a future. After graduation he went to college on a wrestling scholarship and eventually became a doctor. “I feel so lost,” he concluded his story. “What am I going to do now?” While he was sharing his story, I could not help but think how hard life can be. We here are generally prosperous and privileged, so we can afford to put up a front. But behind that front life can be hard. Because it’s out there -- loss, abuse, addiction, and a host of other afflictions. It’s enough to make you lose your way. And as I said, we here are generally prosperous and privileged. What if the loss, abuse, and addiction are compounded by poverty or racism? Then it’s all but a foregone conclusion. Your way is lost. Yes, life can be hard. Life takes casualties. Lots of them. It can make us feel helpless and overwhelmed. We want to make things better, but what could we possibly do? The answer is no farther away than my late math teacher. What could we possibly do to make things better? We could reach out, like he did. And what is in view here is not merely a good example, although we must never underestimate the power of a good example and must always strive to be one. But there’s more in view than that. It has to do with the Bible. The Bible may seem like a forbidding book. For one thing it’s thousands of pages long. It makes War and Peace look like a short story. For another thing, it’s unimaginably ancient. The Bible’s story begins 2,000 years before the Common Era. I just read that a sizable portion of millennials don’t know what the Holocaust was. To them that’s ancient history - a mere 75 years back. The Bible is more than 4,000 years back. That’s unimaginably ancient. For yet another thing, it traffics in extremely complicated and sophisticated theology, plumbing in its unfolding the depths of such mysteries as our nature, the predicament that our nature has landed us in, and the means of our redemption. And it does so all the while purging itself of false starts or conclusions. So it may seem forbidding. But at the same time, ironically, the Bible lends itself to succinct summaries. Here’s one: God lives. Here’s another: Good triumphs over evil. And another: Love triumphs over fear. And another: Practice universal justice. And another: Love one another. And here’s one that’s right on point: Reach out. The Bible can be summarized in just two words. Reach out. Think about it. That’s what God did. God reached out. God reached out to Abraham and told him that from him would one day issue a nation, and not just any nation, but a nation that would somehow bless all the nations by bestowing upon them redemption. God reached out to Moses and bequeathed him an ethical law so that God’s people could bear his righteousness. God reached out to David and told him that from his descendants would emerge one who would embody that redemption. And that one in the fullness of time emerged. God reach out to his son. He told him that if he would make a great sacrifice, the greatest sacrifice, it would be the means for all people to reach out to one another. In a real way. A way that advanced God’s own being and cause. And his son made that sacrifice. And in his brief ministry that preceded that sacrifice, he reached out to everyone. And I mean everyone. Lepers. Prostitutes. Beggars. Even a bitter little man perched up in a sycamore tree. So reaching out is not just a good example. It is nothing less the mechanism that God that employs to bestow redemption. Yes, life can be hard. Paul knew this. “We would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” But Paul goes on. “So we must make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.” And this means reaching out. “I feel so lost now. What am I going to do?” asked my grieving classmate. I told him that his coach had already showed him what to do. I told him to reach out. Amen.
By Rebecca Clancy August 2, 2022
Jesus was always one to bring the party. All he had to do was show up, and lots of others showed up too -- eager for engagement, eager for excitement, eager for something new. It was little wonder. Here at last was someone who had something to say. Something different. Something provocative. Something truthful. Jesus had a way of uttering truths that had never been uttered before, but at the same time, were strangely recognizable. And it was happening once again. Once again, Jesus had brought the party. He showed up at the house of Mary and Martha, and suddenly the place was filled with men who immediately took their place at his feet. This gesture was an indicator that they were ready and willing disciples. They wanted him to teach them. And so he began to teach. That was Martha’s cue. She sprang into action. After Jesus’ teaching, it would be fellowship hour, and as we all know, fellowship hour is predicated upon food. And in ancient times, you couldn’t rely on your reserves from Costco. Feeding a room full of men was labor intensive. Animals had to be slaughtered and dressed. Bread had to be baked. Water had to hauled. Martha went directly to work, expecting Mary to fall in place behind her. But what did Mary do? She went and sat at Jesus’ feet with the men -- shirking her role, defying expectations, and leaving Martha to shoulder the burden alone. I can imagine Martha’s frustration. I can imagine her passive aggressive attempts to get Mary back in the kitchen. Staring daggers at her from the threshold. Uttering loud sighs as indicators of her strain. Dropping pottery on the floor to startle Mary to awareness. But Mary took no notice. None whatsoever. Martha should have counted to ten. How much strife could be averted if we could all just remember to count to ten, or perhaps twenty. Martha for her part shot like a rocket from outrage to outburst. “I’m doing all the work in here Jesus, while Mary has yet to raise a finger. It’s hardly fair. And have you even noticed? Do you even care?” And there was doubtless more to it than the fact that Martha had to provide all the hospitality on her own. There too was the fact of what Mary was doing. She not day dreaming or singing idly out the window. She was sitting at Jesus’ feet. She was in there with the men. Martha was doubtless chagrined and embarrassed that Mary did not know her place. It certainly did not reflect well on the family. But Jesus did not vindicate Martha. Jesus chastised her, “Martha, Martha,” (and when someone says your name twice, wait for some kind of a correction to follow) “Why are you so distracted and stressed and scattered? Let it go. Mary’s right where she should be.” We’re left to wonder how Martha felt at that point. I bet she wasn’t happy. She simply didn’t get it or she would not have reacted that way in the first place. Now normally this text is interpreted as a caution against busyness. Martha with all her busyness is a prototype that we should avoid. Not that productivity is a bad thing. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop after all. But there’s a certain kind of busyness that’s not good. It’s when we become enmeshed with worldly or personal concerns and address them with obsessive application – application that mixes with pride, competition, insecurity. It becomes a kind of self-perpetuating force. And it causes us to lose all perspective. It causes us to become disoriented. We forget that we’re supposed to be at Jesus’ feet – his disciples, listening to him. And this is a fair enough interpretation, but I think there’s something else here. An elephant in the living room. Mary was right where she should be. She was at Jesus’ feet, his disciple, listening to him. But Mary was, obviously, a woman. Women did not seat themselves at the feet of rabbis. Women were not disciples. All they needed to know was taught to them by their mothers. Women did not sit side by side with men learning. It was unheard of. It was forbidden. And yet Jesus told Martha that Mary was right where she should be. Her place was with the men. Really Jesus? A woman’s place is with the men? Really Jesus? In first century Judaism? Jesus was a revolutionary and a radical, and don’t ever forget it. All down through history and even to this day there has an unspoken and inviolable code. It could be expressed as a variant of a line from the wedding ceremony. What society has divided, let no one unite. And Jesus was saying the polar opposite. A women’s place is with the men. Think about what this means by extension. Women, your place is with the men. Men, your place is with the women. Whites, your place is with blacks. Blacks your place is with whites. The wealthy, your place is with the poor, and the poor, your place is with the wealthy. The powerful, your place is with the powerless. The powerless, your place is with the powerful. The old, your place is with the young. The young, your place is with the old. Jesus was smashing down all dividing walls. His disciples are to be completely and utterly integrated. This is simply too radical, simply too revolutionary. But that’s who Jesus was. This is why he brought the party. It’s because he spoke God’s truth. Disciples are to be completely and utterly integrated, and this in service to humankind that is to be completely and utterly integrated. That all should be one. But this is so radical and revolutionary that it is very seldom approximated. It’s too hard. But is it really? Is it really that hard to forge the way? Is it really that hard to reach out? Is it really that hard to cross the aisle? To be vulnerable? To be risky? To be open? To be accepting? To be understanding? One thing’s for sure. It’s a lot easier than hanging on a cross in faith it could be so. Amen.
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